Gaurav Chandel murder case: Noida police get custody of prime suspect Ashu Jaat

The Noida police on Wednesday took the prime suspect in the Gaurav Chandel murder case in custody, and based on information revealed by him, retrieved the victim’s

The Noida police on Wednesday took the prime suspect in the Gaurav Chandel murder case in custody, and based on information revealed by him, retrieved the victim’s mobile phone from near the Hindon bridge.

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Gaurav was murdered on the intervening night of January 6 and 7 when he was on his way home to Gaur City in Greater Noida West. He was returning from Gurugram where he worked as a regional manager with a private health care firm. He had spoken to his wife, Preeti Chandel, at 10.22pm and had told her that he was near the Parthala roundabout.

Gaurav was missing for more than five hours and his body was found around 4.15am on the service lane between Parthala and the Hindon Bridge, under the Phase 3 and Bisrakh police jurisdiction. A case was registered at the Phase 3 police station under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.

The victim had received head injuries and the autopsy later revealed that he had been shot twice on the back of his head. Police had suspected it to be a case of car-jacking gone wrong.

His vehicle, a Kia Seltos SUV which he had purchased in December 2019, was found abandoned in Ghaziabad’s Akash Nagar on the night of January 14. The Hapur police had later arrested Poonam, the prime suspect’s wife and Umesh, an alleged accomplice of the prime suspect, in connection with the case.

Akash Rajendra Singh (32), aka, Ashu, the prime suspect, had a reward of ₹2.5 lakh on him. According to the police, he is a history-sheeter who is allegedly a part of the ‘Mirchi’ gang and has been accused in several cases of murder, robbery and kidnapping in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi.

He was nabbed on September 5 from Mumbai where he had been living incognito for nearly a year.

“From Mumbai, he was first sent to the Hapur jail, from where he was sent to Naini jail in Prayagraj. We brought him on a 12-hour remand on Wednesday. He showed us the spot where he had dumped the phone and it took a long time for the police team to retrieve it as it was very well hidden among the bushes,” said Jitendra Dikshit, station house officer, Phase 3 police station.

Based on his directions, Gaurav’s phone was found among the bushes under the Hindon Bridge, barely 150 metres from the spot where his body was found.

“All of Gaurav’s electronics and stolen goods have now been recovered. We will soon file the chargesheet in the case,” said the SHO.